Structural archaeologist Geoff Carter's radical view of building in the ancient world, especially the archaeology of the lost timber built environment of Southern England. It is new research into of prehistory of architecture, available in a series of articles that are designed to be read in order, and to be accessible to the non-specialist - and there is even some humour

12 January, 2011

Having solved WOGE 116 over at The 'H' Word, eventually spotting the Byzantine fort at Haïdra, Tunisia, it falls to me to set the next competition.

The word over at The 'H' Word, was Sisyphean, which reminds me I have real work to do, with that in mind, I hope this puzzle proves to be easier; be the first to identify the location and date of site in the picture below, and you can host you own When on Google Earth!

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Extra Clue: King Tut was not buried here . . .

Now a special bonus clue in comments . . . .

The Rules

Q: What is When on Google Earth?

A: It’s a game for archaeologists, or anybody else willing to have a go!

Q: How do you play it?

A: Simple, you try to identify the site in the picture.

Q: Who wins?

A: The first person to correctly identify the site, including its major period of occupation, wins the game.

Q: What does the winner get?

A: The winner gets bragging rights and the chance to host the next When on Google Earth on his/her own blog!More about When on Google Earth

Semi-arid landscape, mud (adobe?) platforms that have some sort of depression in their centers, what looks to be terraced fields. I'm sure I'll kick myself later, but right now I'm thinking something in Peru.

It is time for a clue as there have been some interesting guesses, and people looking in the wrong place, but if you look carefully, you might see things like llamas, but not alpacas, angoras, nor lions or camels.

Lets summarize the "informations" we have.* not mechanized agriculure, very small fields, simple infrastructure* 4 square shapes 100sq meters. height maybe 15-25 meters.* outside of the squares rough, vertical structures so i would roule out bricks as material* landscape arid. very few little trees/bushes* small flat-roof buildings, not spread out but somehow connected to a sort of village.* Shadow of the buildings long and northern. Location is to 100% north of 23°S and likely north of the equator.* So Peru is not very likely, also in Peru there are Alpacas* As there are no camels and no lions it is not Egypt and not the middle East.* the pattern of the fields looks very much like Mexiko, but it isn't. Mexico is the only place I looked and I didn't find it. With a little scale like this I do not give a guarantee.* So Geoff said: "like llamas". LLamas belong to the family Camelidae. We can rule out LLamas, Alpacas We can rule out "Vicuna" as they live in Argentina, and that's too south. We can rule out "Guanaco", too southern Then we do have the "Dromedary" with goes eastern up to Pakistan/Usbekistan which is close to China. And last but not least we have the "Bactrian Camel" living in northern China and southern Mongolia. (What am I glad, I studied 2 semesters Biology).

So my newest guess would be a bow from Pakistan/Usbekistan (the soil fits) maybe Mongolia.

I still maintain that the platforms, themselves, look like they're made of mud. (Though whether bricks, adobe, or pisé, I don't know.) The flat roofed modern structures suggest the Middle East, but that's not certain either. Geoff's hints, and Felix's parsing of them suggest eastern Asia, probably Tibet or Mongolia. But, again, I can't be sure. Time to hit the old Google and Google Earth again!

Geoff: since 7 days, the game has stopped, as we do not get a new challenge from Tim (http://tim-theegyptians.blogspot.com). I would suggest to wait until Saturday 12:00 UTC. If there is still no new WOGE, I would suggest that you are going to publish a new one 117a. As you do have Tims email address, maybe you would like to get in contact with him?